


And One Man in His Time Plays Many Parts

by HumbleFarmer



Category: Alex Stern - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Demon Darlington, F/M, Illusions, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23068618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HumbleFarmer/pseuds/HumbleFarmer
Summary: Back from hell, Darlington is struggling with the darkness inside him, and he finds himself unable to fulfill his role as Virgil properly. He hates to ask, but he might need Alex's help.Thing is, Alex might need his help, too, if she'll let herself accept it.
Relationships: Darlington/Alex Stern
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	1. Black Widow and Agent Coulson

**Author's Note:**

> I love this book so much and Alex and Darlington and Dawes, and I couldn't not write something for them. Takes place after the theoretical second book. Probably won't be canon-compliant, but I'm going for it.

“I don’t like this. I think this is a bad idea.”

“You’ve said that. It was cliche and boring the first three times, too.”

“Alex, we should go back, regroup. If we think about it long enough, we’ll come up with a better plan.”

“Too late for that. We’re here.”

Darlington stared at the peeling door and cracked glass of the window. “Surely not,” he said.

Alex grinned. “Things aren’t always what they seem. You should know that by now.”

Understanding washed over him, and he tentatively reached out to touch the doorknob. Immediately, the decrepit appearance faded away to reveal beautiful marble, gold plating, and a classy sign that read, The Amicable Society Interested in a Good Time.

“These people,” Alex said with a roll of her eyes, and then she let herself inside.

…

Darlington did not have good experiences with Manuscript. He hadn’t been a fan of them when he was a Dante, and he certainly was not a fan after they tricked him at that party. He still flushed with shame when his thoughts wandered to the way he had grabbed at Alex, and he marveled that she could still bear to be around him.

Now though, he was ready to torch the whole house.

The anger flared up inside him and traveled down his veins. He could feel the heat and the power that came with it, and he hurried to wrestle it under control.

As he followed Alex past the lobby, down to the basement, and then down to a level below the basement, he took slow, steady breaths. At one point she turned back to check on him, but he shook his head.

He was fine.

He would be fine. He just needed a moment.

Darlington did not remember much from his time in hell. He knew Alex had come to save him, and when he’d returned, several months had passed. He was repeating his last semester at Yale now.

A lot had changed. The dean was dead, and before that, he’d been a murderer — almost Darlington’s murderer. The Bridegroom was actually a good guy. Belbalm had been an evil undead monster.

More than anything though, Darlington was different. He was not a full demon as he had been in hell, but there was still something demon-like inside of him, and if he was not careful, the beast wanted to come out.

And this place was not helping.

“You going to Hulk out?” Alex said.

“That’s not funny,” Darlington managed through gritted teeth.

They were deep underground now, and the noise was nearly overwhelming. People pressed in close to each other, and the strong scents of alcohol and magic made him dizzy. As they weaved through the crowd, Darlington spotted the ring — a small circle separated from the crowd by braided ropes. Two people in spandex fought in the center with nothing more than wrapped hands. The crowd surged with each punch and kick.

“I see her.”

Darlington followed Alex’s line of sight to a raised dais with three thrones. Two attractive young men sat on either side, but the center throne was occupied by who Darlington recognized as Penelope Wintergreen.

Sometimes alumni struggled to transition into ordinary life after Yale, and a few clung to their old magic, and the occasional rogue decided to abandon the rules altogether. Some chose to use their workings of illusion and misperception to ensnare key people into traps that left the alumnus with ever growing power and influence.

Manuscript had come to Lethe when they’d learned of Penelope Wintergreen’s nefarious deeds, and at first, Darlington had been tempted to turn them away. Alex had already been shutting the door in Mike’s face, but the role of Lethe was to prevent the houses from harming others. They had not been doing a great job of that lately, but Darlington was determined to guide them back onto the right path.

Even if he was part demon. He still knew right from wrong, and what Penelope Wintergreen was doing was wrong.

“And we have a winner,” Penelope Wintergreen said, standing with a flourish. Her golden red hair flowed around her, and she had strikingly blue eyes. Darlington wondered if any of that was real or just part of the illusion.

The remaining fighter put his hands up in the air to the cheers of the crowd. The other fighter lay at his feet.

“Hmm,” Penelope said, glancing to the two young men on the dais with her. “It seems I’ve run out of chairs. Jonathan, to the ring.”

The man on her right — broad and tall with muscles Darlington did not know existed — left the dais for the ring, and the winner took his place.

“Now that’s better,” Penelope said. “Now who shall challenge my prize? Who dares to fight for a seat at my side?”

“I will.”

Darlington turned to Alex, his lips parted and his eyes wide. “No,” he whispered.

She shrugged out of her jacket to reveal a sports bra underneath. “Winning is the only way to get near her, Darlington,” she said.

“You were planning this all along,” he accused.

“Obviously,” she said.

“You’re going to get hurt,” he said.

She shoved the jacket into his arms and started marching toward the ring. “No, I’m going to win.”

She ducked beneath the rope, and she did look like a force of nature in her leggings and sneakers, but all Darlington could see were the soft parts of her, the places where she was small and her opponent was big. He had seen her face far greater enemies and come out on top, but she couldn’t ask for the strength of a nearby ghost here. She was all on her own.

Part of him wanted to go into the ring after her, but he was no fighter, and they weren’t supposed to draw attention to themselves. Penelope would recognize him, and even so — what if this awoke something inside him? Something he couldn’t take back?

Alex and her opponent danced around each other. Her sharp eyes took in every detail of the man, and Darlington wondered what she was taking note of. The way he held his arms? The steps of his feet?

Then the man swung first, and Alex had already dodged and sent a returning blow to his stomach. The man wheezed, and she hit him again, this time in the back.

He landed a blind hit to her shoulder, but she barely reacted before she sent him to the ground, and he did not get up again.

“My, my, not a long show but an impressive one,” Penelope Wintergreen said. “Come closer, my champion, and let me get a closer look at you.”

Darlington watched Alex wrestle control over her expression, which took considerably more effort than the fight. She walked to the edge of the ring to stand before Penelope, and more than ever, Darlington wanted to step between them. He didn’t want Alex to face her alone, but Penelope would recognize him, and she shouldn’t know about Alex—

“Hello, Alex Stern,” Penelope said. “I was wondering if I would meet you sometime soon. Is Darlington here as well? Oh, how I have missed him.”

Then her beautiful eyes found his, and Darlington froze in her line of sight. A smile slowly spread across her face. “There he is.”

The party faded away around him. The people, the drinks, the music, the lights, the ring until only he, Alex, Penelope, and six large muscled men remained.

“You knew,” he said.

Penelope shrugged. “I suspected. I had a feeling my house might call in the dogs of Lethe, and I like to do my research. Interesting choice of Dante, Darlington. Not what I would have suspected from you.”

She glanced at Alex with clear disdain, and Darlington did not know if he wanted to defend her or explain that he had not gotten to choose his Dante. Either way, this was not the time, and as her thugs swarmed closer to both him and Alex, he had a sinking feeling that they would not be able to walk out of here unscathed.

“You couldn’t have known we would have come after you tonight,” Alex said. “Someone warned you.”

Penelope turned her attention back to Alex, and Darlington wanted to scream, shout, something to keep the witch’s eyes away from her.

“You’re something different, aren’t you? I’ll have to keep a closer eye on you. Or I would have, but I don’t think you’ll be a problem anymore,” she said, and then she nodded toward her thugs.

They split in half, three on Alex and three on Darlington, but this time, Alex struck first, and two of Darlington’s thugs quickly moved to help the three against Alex. That left only one to face Darlington, which should have offended him, but he was mostly afraid he wouldn’t be able to take the one.

“All right, let’s go, kid,” the thug said, stalking closer, and Darlington stepped backward once before he caught himself. There was nowhere to go.

He at least took some comfort in that Alex seemed to be holding her own, but then he heard her cry out in pain.

The anger flared in Darlington. It always started in his stomach, arrested his shoulders, and then sprung out to his fingerprints where the anger longed to transition from the theoretical to the literal. Darlington didn’t know what that would look like — would he sprout wings or claws? Or would he just be a man with the strength of a demon?

He used to dread finding out, and a part of him still dreaded it, but necessity was a powerful motivator.

He curled his fingers into a fist and swung for the head of the thug —

— and missed.

His body barreled forward, but the thug dodged too quickly. While Darlington was still in the throes of his punch, the thug struck him in the gut.

The breath wheezed out of him, but he still bounced back quicker than the Darlington-of-before would have. He stumbled to his feet and back out of his opponent’s range.

“You should have left the fighting to the girl,” the thug said. Not a taunt. Just a statement of fact.

Darlington reached for his anger, but that emotion had never come easily to him, and now it slipped from his fingers, just barely out of his reach. He tried to strike again, but fights happened too quickly. He didn’t even see what sent him flying to the ground, but he blinked, and then he was on his back, the edges of his vision a little fuzzy.

He blinked again, and Alex was leaning over him with an expression somewhere between embarrassment, wry amusement, and mild concern. He wondered if she was embarrassed for him or herself for being seen with him.

“She got away?” he asked.

“Do you have to ask?”

Alex barely looked ruffled even after her fight in the ring and the scuffle against the five sycophants. Darlington hadn’t been able to handle one.

“You took out all of yours?”

Alex shrugged. “Let’s get you to Dawes. She’ll fix you.”

Darlington wasn’t so sure about that.

...

Pammy did in fact heal him, but Darlington’s defeat still haunted him even as he went to bed that night. He lay in the bed in the house that was his home — a home he had given so much for — and everything should have been all right. He was free from hell, and he was back to the job that he loved, but he was different. There was something inside him.

And if he was going to be something other than the Darlington-of-before, shouldn’t that mean something? Shouldn’t he be able to protect those around him? Uphold justice and nobility?

...

Alex heard a knock on the door of her dorm, and a growl escaped her as she checked the time.

3:16 a.m.

Alex hadn’t planned on committing murder tonight, but she’d done it once, and she’d do it again.

She opened the door, still mulling over whether this would count as first or second degree murder, to find Darlington on the other side.

“I need you to teach me how to fight,” he said.


	2. Mulan and Li Shang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alex teaches Darlington how to fight, which she likes. In which she also starts to feeling things and absolutely hates that.

Alex had been worried something like this might happen. Darlington was already off balance and not-quite-Darlington since he’d returned from hell, and after his embarrassing defeat at the hands of Penelope Wintergreen, she’d had a feeling something like this would follow.

“Why?” Alex said.

Darlington scrunched up his nose as if he didn’t understand why Alex would question him about this. “Because I lost. And if we’re going to do our job, I can’t let that happen again.”

“Do you really think our friend Penny is going to use the same trick twice? She’s on to us now, and we might not be able to get close to her again. Or if we do, she might just go for the kill shot.”

Alex didn’t think Penelope Wintergreen would balk at murder. She had clearly just been playing with them tonight, but if she truly thought the Dante and Virgil of Lethe were a threat, she was just crazy enough to try something. After all, she couldn’t know that Alex and Darlington were not the usual Dante and Virgil. They had seen things like no one had before them; they had _become_ things.

“Then that’s all the more reason to be better prepared this time,” Darlington reasoned.

Unabashedly, Alex let her eyes trace from his dark hair to his knobby knuckles to his feet. Even at three in the morning, he had not left the house without buttoning his coat and carefully tying his shoes.

“I learned to fight to protect myself from perverts at the strip club every night. Do you think you have a strong enough motivation to do this?”

“What were you doing at a—?”

“I worked there, asshole. Now answer the question.”

Darlington’s eyes widened, but he quickly wrestled his expression back into something like determination. He nodded.

“Fine,” Alex said. “Then go back to your house and wait for me to come to you. If you wake me up again, you won’t have to worry about Penny because I’ll kill you.”

…

It was a Saturday, so Alex parked in front of Darlington’s house around ten. He met her at the door to say, “I made breakfast, but now it’s cold.”

“Do you have a microwave?” Alex asked.

“Yes?”

“Then it’ll be fine. Show me the breakfast.”

He had made eggs and bacon and whole wheat toast, and while she ate, Darlington sipped a cup of coffee. It was oddly domestic to share brunch on a Saturday morning in Darlington’s family home. Now that he lived within these walls again, the house felt alive once more, a vibrant mansion full of mystery, like something from a childhood fantasy. Alex could understand why he insisted on staying here.

“Is it to your liking?” Darlington asked.

“Yeah, it’s good,” Alex said. Then as an afterthought, “Thanks.”

Darlington took another drink of coffee to cover his smile.

…

They pushed back all the furniture in the living room to leave a large open space. Alex recognized that most people began their workout sessions with stretching or a warm-up, but in a real fight, most opponents did not allow that luxury. So instead, she showed him how to throw a punch in a way that wouldn’t break his thumb.

“You don’t mean it,” Alex said after Darlington went through the motions again. “You don’t actually want to hit anyone.”

“I’m punching the air,” Darlington pointed out.

“It’s not just that. Everything in your body language screams that you don’t want to hurt anyone, ever.”

“I mean, does anyone?”

“Sometimes,” Alex said with a shrug. She moved to stand in front of him. “Hit me,” she ordered.

Darlington fell out of his fighting stance and stood up straight. “What? No. I’m not going to hit you. Why would I do that?”

“It’s called sparring. How do you think people learn how to fight better? They fight. Usually other people who also want to learn how to fight better. So hit me.”

She opened herself up to give him an easy show, but Darlington looked like he was more likely to vomit.

“I just don’t think—”

“Oh for the love of—”

So Alex hit him. Not hard. Even she recognized that people sparring pulled their punches. His look of shock was almost comical, but before Darlington could protest, she hissed, “Block me.”

She threw another punch, this one slower, and he ducked out of the way. She did it again, and he dodged faster. “Good, now hit back,” she said.

He looked down, clenched his fist in the way she had showed him, and threw a slow, weak punch, but it at least looked like he wanted to now. She blocked him easily, but without her prompting, he tried again, and she actually had to work a little harder to dodge it.

They were in a rhythm now, and Alex caught herself smiling. She forgot how much she liked fighting when life and honor weren’t on the line. She glanced Darlington’s face between blows, and some of the stress lines had eased around his eyes. Maybe he didn't love this in the way she did, but she thought it might be good for him.

Eventually, they called it and drank their fill of water. Alex wiped the sweat from her forehead with a kitchen towel. 

“So?” Darlington asked.

“Better,” Alex said.

…

They met every day that week. Sometimes before class, sometimes after. When they weren’t sparring, attending classes, or performing Lethe work, they were researching Penelope Wintergreen. They met with Kate and Mike from Manuscript a few times for more background, but those sessions did less than any of them had hoped.

At least the training felt like doing something.

Of course, Alex was working on her own leads. Penelope Wintergreen had known where they would be and when, and while dear old Penny might could have guessed that Lethe would come after her, she couldn’t have known the details without help. She knew that Darlington and Dawes would not have leaked the information, but she didn’t have the highest opinion of Manuscript.

Perhaps there was someone sympathetic to Penny still in their ranks. Or someone who really hated Darlington or her. Honestly, the latter might be more likely.

So she went snooping. She recognize that this was what had caused all her problems freshman year — though admittedly the dean had sent Darlington to hell before that, so really, the snooping helped to solve their problems.

Anyway, that was how she rationalized her research into Manuscript, and after a few conversations with society members — some which were actual conversations and some which ended with Alex pressing their face into the wall — she learned that Penny had been the one to induct Caihe into Manuscript. A certain Caihe who had used Manuscript magic on Darlington and suffered consequences for it.

That was a suspect and a motive, and after a bit of thinking, a plan. Alex felt that they could wrap up this whole Penelope Wintergreen thing soon, and yet she hesitated. Instead, she continued to go over to Darlington’s house and spar with him for a few hours. Sometimes he cooked. Sometimes they ordered takeout. One time, they watched a movie afterward.

Tonight they decided to finish up the sparring early. Darlington was certainly improving. He wouldn’t win any championships, but if he was mugged, he might hold his own long enough for someone to come save him. Honestly, that was the most Alex had hoped for from this experience.

“I was going to make spaghetti and roasted carrots, but I didn’t get it ready in time before you got here,” Darlington admitted.

Alex shrugged. “We can make it now. I’ll chop carrots.”

Darlington widened his eyes in surprise, but he nodded and led her to the kitchen. Once he had set her up with a cutting board, knife, and carrots, he started browning the meat and boiling water for the pasta.

Admittedly, Alex wasn’t much of a cook, but she could handle a knife, and she figured the shapes of the carrots didn’t matter that much, even if they were all different sizes. Honestly, cooking with Darlington was kind of nice. Truth be told, she did not hate coming over to his house every day. It was quite a surprise.

She actually felt a little guilty for not telling him about her intel or her plan, but for one thing, she hated bringing up that Manuscript party. She knew he tortured himself over it, even if it was far from the worst thing to ever happen to Alex. He was gentlemanly even when under the influence of magic, and under different circumstances, she might have liked the feel of his hands on her.

Not that she would ever tell him. He refused to bring up the party after that night, and if something even happened to vaguely remind him, he flushed with shame and sputtered.

Still, there was something else, too. The moment she told him of her plan, they would no longer have a reason to continue his training sessions, and there definitely wouldn’t be a reason to make spaghetti together on a Friday night.

“Something on your mind?” Darlington asked. “You’re going after those carrots pretty aggressively.”

Alex glanced down to the orange bits. “Nothing important,” she said.

Darlington shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “I actually have a question if you don’t mind. You don’t have to answer it though.”

Alex tensed, but she nodded. “What?”

“Why did you work at a strip club? _When_ did you work at a strip club? You’re barely of age,” he said, and then he immediately blushed.

Her stomach rolled, but she forced herself to shrug casually. It wasn’t like this would be telling Darlington anything he hadn’t already suspected. After all, he knew she had murdered men in cold blood with a baseball bat. He had always thought the worst of her, and why should she care about that now? 

“Strip clubs don’t exactly do extensive background checks. I needed the money, and there aren’t a ton of places that hire high school dropouts with a drug problem,” she said.

He flinched but then forced his expression under control. He suddenly became very interested in stirring the tomato sauce and seasoning into the hamburger meat.

“The drugs, did they—?” He cleared his throat. “Did they help with the grays?”

Alex stilled. She hadn’t been about to tell him that because she didn’t want to sound like she was making excuses for her life, but she also hadn’t expected him to guess it. “Yeah, I didn’t see them when I was high.”

Darlington nodded, stirred the spaghetti sauce. “I’m sorry that happened to you,” he said, and she wondered what exactly he meant. Seeing the grays. Not being able to go home. Dropping out of high school. Working at the strip club. Maybe all of of it.

“Thanks,” she said, and she almost meant it.

She didn’t want pity, but that wasn’t what Darlington was offering. He was trying to understand her.

“You haven’t exactly had the best year,” Alex pointed out.

A startled laugh slipped past Darlington’s lips. “I guess not,” he admitted wryly. “Though perhaps I just visited hell during their off season.”

He tossed the carrots with oil, garlic powder, and parmesan, and then he put them in the oven. He put the pasta in the boiling water and the spaghetti sauce on simmer. They talked of other things — school, Alex’s roommates, places in town.

When the food was finished, they sat down to eat at the kitchen and spoke of their plans for the next week, and suddenly, Alex felt as if she might cry, which was ridiculous. Just, she had never expected something so normal from her life. This wasn’t meant to be hers. And she knew it was temporary because these things were always temporary.

So instead of suggesting a movie to watch after dinner, she said, “I have a plan for how to take down Penny.”


	3. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final showdown

They told Mike and Kate that they would not be able to track down Penelope Wintergreen that weekend because they needed to oversee a ritual in the greenhouse on the edge of campus. If their plan worked correctly, Mike and Kate would tell the rest of Manuscript, and Caihe would tell Penelope.

“What if she doesn’t come?” Darlington asked.

Alex shrugged. The thought had crossed her mind, but she recognized something in Penny — something maniacal — and she was fairly certain Penelope Wintergreen wouldn’t be able to resist.

“She’ll come,” she said.

As they approached the weekend, Darlington, Dawes, and Alex warded the hell out of the greenhouse. They threw every spell Lethe had in its reserves at the place, and if everything worked how it was supposed to, they would be able to prevent Penny from using her magic and calmly and safely take her down. Alex wasn’t sure how much she believed in the likelihood of that, but Darlington was staying optimistic, and she wasn’t about to call him on it.

So naturally, Penny didn’t show. They waited for hours, poised to attack, but for nothing. Finally at five in the morning, long past when the ritual was supposed to have taken place, she and Darlington called it.

“We’ll regroup tomorrow,” Alex said as she climbed into Darlington’s car.

“I really thought this would work. We doused this place in magic,” he said.

Darlington volunteered to drop Alex off at her dorm, and the two of them pulled out of the parking lot. They started to head back toward the on-campus housing when suddenly they were not on a road anymore. Nor were they in a car. The two of them were in a small rowboat in the middle of the ocean.

Alex gripped the sides of the boat, the wood rough, grainy, and wet beneath her hands, and she met Darlington’s eyes. He looked a little green in the face even though they had only been on the tumultuous sea for about thirty seconds.

“She’s here,” Darlington said.

“You think?” Alex said.

Above them, a comet lit up the whole sky. Stars blinked pink, then orange, then red, then nothing at all.

A shark fin poked out from the water, but when the shark jumped from the ocean, it was a dragon, which unfurled its wings and breathed fire. Darlington instinctively ducked, but Alex stood in the unsteady boat and glared at the great beast.

“You’re not real,” she said. “None of this is real. Show yourself, you two-bit stage magician,” she shouted.

The ocean, boat, and dragon disappeared, and she and Darlington stood instead in a circus tent. Acrobats swung from hoops and tightropes in the air, and elephants paraded around them. On a pedestal in the sky, Penelope Wintergreen stood in a sleek suit that would have looked at home in an accounting office if it hadn’t been made from blue sequins. Her red curls flowed down from beneath a black top hat.

“You want a show, Galaxy Stern?” Penelope said, grinning. She waved her arm in a sweeping gesture, and the ring caught fire.

The elephants morphed into lions, and Alex crouched in a fighting position. Beside her, Darlington tried to do the same, but he looked more like he was braced to take a hit.

“Why don’t you fight me yourself?” Alex challenged.

Penny’s smile shifted into an exaggerated pout. “You’re a brave one, aren’t you? But are you so brave when you’re all alone?”

Darlington was no longer beside her, and a yelp made her look up. He balanced in the middle of a tightrope, and Alex wasn’t an expert, but she expected a fall from that height would kill him or at least shatter his whole spine. At least it would if any of this was real, but it wasn’t.

The lions stalked around her, growling and tossing their great heads, but she kept her eyes trained on Penny. She offered a mocking bow with her arms spread wide.

“Is this supposed to scare me?” she said.

Penny shrugged, and one of the lions lunged. Her paws came first, and Alex couldn’t stop herself from ducking, but the claws still slashed across her face, leaving three long cuts from the corner of one eye to her chin. Pain flared like fire.

Alex reached up to touch her face, and blood stained her fingers.

“That’s not right,” she said, more to herself than anything.

Immediately, she looked up to Darlington who, against all odds, still balanced on the tightrope, but he looked small and fragile up there. If the lion had cut her face, would Darlington truly fall?

“Sometimes an illusion is more real than anything else in your world,” Penelope Wintergreen said, and she tipped her top hat.

“Oh, fuck you,” Alex shouted.

The lions circled closer now, and with blood dripping from her face, she no longer regarded them as silly distractions. She crouched into a fighting stance even though she knew it was useless, and her eyes never left their claws and teeth.

Sometimes an illusion is more real than anything else in your world — as if Alex of all people didn’t know that. No one did hard drugs without coming up against that realization the first time they went on a bad trip. Besides, there was a part of her that had always wondered if the grays weren’t the product of something wrong in her brain. If the grays were an illusion, that didn’t change the fact that they severely impacted every part of Alex’s life.

Maybe this all came down to who had the better imagination.

“Darlington,” she yelled, pulling her eyes away from the lions to stare up at the boy in the sky, “I need you to jump.”

Then Darlington held her hand.

“I don’t have to jump because I’m already right here with you,” he said, and his voice came from just to the left of her. “We’re still in the car, Alex.”

He squeezed her hand.

It seemed ridiculous because Darlington was above her, and Penny was on a dais in front of her. Lions growled and swung their heads.

But when she closed her eyes, she could feel the seatbelt digging into her, and when she reached out with her right hand, she felt the door handle.

Sometimes it only took one person saying, _you’re not facing the lions alone_ , to break the spell.

“We need to get out of the car,” she said.

“And do what?” Darlington asked.

“Finish this.”

She almost felt foolish climbing out of a car that she still could not see, but the moment they were out, Darlington took her hand again, and the illusion must have been fading because she could see him next to her. Of course, she could also see the six thugs from before coming their way.

Alex glanced over at Darlington, and he did look like he was about to vomit on his own feet, but he clenched his fists in the way she had taught him.

The circus rippled, and now they stood at the top of a mountain so tall that they saw only clouds and sky, and there were no longer six men coming toward them, but instead six dragons.

“See, this isn’t even a good one. We’ve already done the fire and brimstone thing,” Alex said.

Darlington smiled, and then fire engulfed them. At first the flames burned like hell — and Alex felt uniquely qualified to say that — but she was starting to be able to pick out the illusion from the reality. She could make the burns fade away, but underneath, she felt the bruising blow of a punch.

She gritted her teeth and shook out her hands. Time to return the favor.

She used every move she knew, and she could tell she was landing some punches, but it was hard to gauge how much damage she was doing when her opponent looked like a dragon. She knew there was more than one of them, and she could see Darlington holding his own, but even as they managed to stay in the fight, she was painfully aware that they could not fight endlessly.

“Alex,” Darlington wheezed. “I can see them. With the— with what’s inside me, I can see through the illusion.”

“Good,” Alex hissed out as she dodged more flames and dealt her own blow. “Use that.”

“I’m not as good as you,” he said.

It was a strange thing to say in the middle of a fight, especially when Darlington had spent weeks training to hold his own, but Alex understood what he meant. He would never suggest it himself, but they needed Darlington’s skill and Alex’s power, and there was only one way to do that.

A part of her still balked because it was such a deeply personal, intimate thing, but Alex was a pragmatist above all else.

Besides, he had already seen the worst parts of her, and he was still by her side.

She reached out to him, and Darlington took her hand, and then she felt him in her veins, in her mind, in her soul.

The flaming hot power of whatever was inside him now filled her as well, and when she looked out at the fight, she saw a dirty alley, Darlington’s parked car, and six completely ordinary men.

After that, the fight was barely anything at all. They were outnumbered, but six men could never stand against Darlington’s power and Alex. They fell, one by one, to the ground, and they did not get back up.

Alex turned, and both she and Darlington inside of her focused on their true enemy, Penelope Wintergreen. She stood to the side in simple jeans and a sweater, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She snarled at them.

“There’s no way,” she hissed. “I’m the strongest of them all. What the hell are _you?_ ”

“You’re in our reality now,” Alex said. “And I hate to tell you, but monsters are real.”

…

Pammy made them soup. Technically, they should probably be eating breakfast at eight in the morning, but time had lost all meaning to Darlington. For a moment there, reality had lost all meaning to him.

So he and Alex ate soup, and Pammy patched up their injuries before excusing herself to go to bed. She had stayed up all night waiting for them.

He and Alex really didn’t deserve Pammy, but Darlington was never going to complain about her sticking around.

This should have been a victorious moment. They had taken Penelope Wintergreen into custody and handed her off to Turner. Kate, Mike, and the rest of Manuscript had made sure Penelope would never be able to draw on the power of Manuscript again.

Still, they ate in silence. Darlington didn’t know what Alex was thinking, but he was thinking about her. He had been in her mind and her soul, and he had caught glimpses of her. The broken pieces of her. The constant fear and trauma of seeing the grays as a child, the desperate relief of getting high and watching the grays disappear even for a little while, the resolve that her life in that trashy apartment with Len and Hellie was the best she would ever get.

Intellectually, he had known all those things about Alex, but it was one thing to hear about it and another to live it.

“Listen, I saw things when we were — you know,” Darlington said awkwardly. He didn’t want to say, _when I was inside you_.

Alex met his eyes with a completely blank expression. “Oh?” she said.

“I’m sorry if I ever made you feel bad for not being the Dante I expected. Or any of it. The fact that you’re here at all is just amazing. You’re the strongest person I know,” he said, and once he started, he couldn’t stop. The words gushed from him. He needed her to know.

A small blush bloomed across her cheeks, but Alex turned away before he could see more. “You’re just saying that because I beat up a bunch of guys for you,” she said.

When she turned back to face him, she was smiling, and Darlington smiled, too.


End file.
